The Board of County Commissioners of Wabasha County, Minnesota, convened in Regular Session at the Wabasha County Courthouse, in the City of Wabasha, Minnesota on Tuesday, August 6, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.

The meeting was called to order by Board Chairman Hall.

The following Commissioners were present: Hall, Wobbe, Springer, Harms, Roschen

SPRINGER - WOBBE

Motion to approve the agenda.

Adopted Unanimously

SPRINGER – HARMS

Motion to approve the consent agenda including the following:

Claims

Meal Vouchers

Per Diems

SSIS Claims

Minutes: July 17, 2013 and July 23, 2013

Adopted Unanimously

ROSCHEN - WOBBE

Resolution No.: 2013-151

Whereas, Lee D. Swanson owner of parcel # R 01.00212.00 property located at 38809 CR 3 Lake City, has provided a written request to the Wabasha County Board of Commissioners regarding the local option abatement for property not qualifying for disaster credit as defined in MS 273.1233;

Whereas, the Wabasha County Assessor has determined that fifty percent or more of the home was destroyed by fire on February 27th 2013 and the home is not livable;

Now therefore be it Resolved by the Wabasha County Board of Commissioners that, a reduction in the 2013 property tax is granted on parcel # R 01.00212.00 based on the number of complete months the home is uninhabitable or unlivable.

Adopted Unanimously

Presentations for 2014 budget appropriation requests were made by the Whitewater River Watershed, Wabasha County Fair Board, Soil & Water Conservation District and Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. Approval of requests will be done at a future meeting.

WOBBE – HARMS

Motion to recess to Public Hearing.

Adopted Unanimously

HARMS – ROSCHEN

Motion to open the Public Hearing on Adoption of ATV Ordinance Regarding Usage of County Roads.

Adopted Unanimously

SPRINGER – HARMS

Motion to close the Public Hearing.

Adopted Unanimously

HARMS – WOBBE

Motion to open regular Board meeting.

Adopted Unanimously

ROSCHEN - WOBBE

Resolution No.: 2013-152

Whereas, technology advances in the area of human services has shown to increase efficiencies that benefit our citizens and the employees in the application and delivery of services to our citizens; and

Whereas, staff began exploration of a way to provide better customer service and to better utilize trained employees. It was determined the EDMS system known as OnBase with E-Docs would allow employees to serve customers more efficiently and reduce time spent on repetitive work involving completion of numerous application forms. And I addition, due to anticipated utilization of the same system by most SE MN counties, redesign through shared workloads between counties can become a reality with electronic documents; and

Whereas, Winona County is offering to host the OnBase program for participating counties to reduce implementation costs. In addition to the one-time cost to purchase the licensure, there would also be on-going program maintenance costs that will also be passed on to participating counties. Both purchase and maintenance costs would be eligible for partial (50%) federal reimbursement; and

Whereas, Wabasha County Social Services staff spoke in support of the secure EDMS system and pointed out additional savings in shared staffing potential in the event of temporary short term absences and/or retirements, cost avoidance in the ability to manage increased caseloads with existing staff and even the cost of transferring files to other counties as needed; and

Whereas, Director Smith and Supervisor McNally participated in a 5-county research project to review a variety of EDMS vendor products; and

Whereas, the Wabasha County Human Services Board has agreed with a recommendation to collaborate with Winona County on the development of EDMS for Wabasha County; and

Whereas, the Wabasha County Department of Social Services has allocated $200,000 in reserve funds for 2013 to his project; and

Whereas, the Director of Social Services recommends participation in an EDMS, hosted by Winona County, with Goodhue, Houston, and Fillmore counties participating in the same system;

Now, therefore be it resolved the Wabasha County Human Services Board authorizes the Director of Social Services and the Human Services Board Chair to execute necessary documents with Winona County, OnBase Software, and Northwoods to develop and implement an Electronic Document Management System in collaboration with Winona County. Estimated cost is at $139,606.00. Approximately 50% of this expense will be reimbursed through administrative procedures.

Adopted Unanimously

HARMS - WOBBE

Resolution No.: 2013-153

Whereas, technology advances in the area of human services has shown to increase efficiencies that benefit our citizens and the employees in the application and delivery of services to our citizens; and

Whereas, staff began exploration of a way to provide better customer service and to better utilize trained employees. It was determined the EDMS system known as OnBase with E-Docs would allow employees to serve customers more efficiently and reduce time spent on repetitive work involving completion of numerous application forms. And in addition, due to anticipated utilization of the same system by most SE MN counties, redesign through shared workloads between counties can become a reality with electronic documents; and

Whereas, the Wabasha County Department of Social Services has allocated $200,000 in reserve funds for 2013 to his project; and

Whereas, there are existing funds in our South Country Health Alliance account to cover the expenses for the MnCHOICES equipment purchases; and

Whereas, Wabasha County IT staff has reviewed pricing from other vendors; and maintains the pricing information in accordance with County finance policy;

Now, therefore be it resolved the Wabasha County Board of Commissioners authorize the Wabasha County IT staff to purchase computer hardware to upgrade existing equipment to meet standards for both EDMS and MnCHOICES. Wabasha County is able to receive reimbursement from State/Federal sources to offset the initial EDMS purchase at approximately 50% through administrative procedures. $60,000 is the estimated cost for both program area updates in Social Services and Public Health.

Adopted Unanimously

SPRINGER - HALL

Resolution No.: 2013-154

Whereas, the Wabasha County Human Services Board was organized under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 402, and formed in Wabasha County, effective January 1, 1999; and

Whereas, the Wabasha County Board of Commissioners determined the only departments to be included under the provisions of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 402, are the Wabasha County Department of Social Services (SS) and the Wabasha County Public Health Services (PHS); and

Whereas, Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 402.05 Employees, Subd. 1a. Each human services board shall appoint a director, who shall serve at the pleasure of the human services board. The director shall by training and experience demonstrate management and administrative skills; and

Whereas, the Wabasha County Human Services Board appointed co-directors, the PHS and SS Directors, at the implementation to carry out the administrative functions in each existing department; and

Whereas, Director Smith has tendered his letter of retirement, effective October 4, 2013; and

Whereas, members of the Wabasha County Board of Commissioners requested information regarding the potential to combine the separate departments to a single unit; and

Whereas, the initial research by Directors Barton and Smith does not show a financial benefit, with an understanding a more complete review would take a considerable amount of time to complete to provide the best response; and

Whereas, the Co-Directors to the Human Services Board recommend the position of Social Services Director be filled, increasing the work schedule from 37.5 hours per week to 40 hours per week, with an on-going review of a potential merger of the departments under the guidance of the County Administrator;

Now, therefore be it resolved the Wabasha County Board of Commissioners authorizes the Director of Social Services and Human Resources to initiate the hiring process to fill the position of the Director of Social Services in a timely manner. Further, the Human Services Board will be requested to appoint either a committee from the Board membership, or the full Board, to participate in the interview/hire process.

Nay: Harms, Roschen

Adopted

The County Engineer gave an update on County Road 30.

SPRINGER - HARMS

Resolution No.: 2013-155

Whereas, Wabasha County authorizes contracted painting of the Wabasha County Radio Communications Tower on Skyline Terrace Road; and,

Whereas, Vertical Limit Construction, has provided a quote in the amount of $6,900.00 for such repairs; and,

Whereas, the monies for these repairs will come out of the 290 building structure improvement fund;

Now, Therefore, be it Resolved by the Wabasha County Board of Commissioners that: Vertical Limit Construction is herby authorized to paint the radio communications tower.

Be it Further Resolved by the Wabasha County Board of Commissioners that:

Funding for these repairs will come from the 290 building structure improvement fund in the amount not to exceed the quote of $6,900.00.

Adopted Unanimously

A discussion was held in regard to Commissioners' Committee and Meeting Assignments. Some changes were made and a revised resolution will be presented to the Board at a future meeting.

A discussion was also held on Implementing Ideas from the Wabasha Common Board.

The Finance Director gave a quarterly financial report on budget, investment and cash flow.

By consensus, the Board moved the regularly scheduled September 17 Board meeting to Monday, September 16.

ROSCHEN - WOBBE

Resolution No.: 2013-156

Whereas, the Wabasha County Auditor/Treasurer, is designated by the Secretary of State as Registrar of Voters, and chief custodian of official voter registration and election records ; and

Whereas; the duties of that position requires the Auditor to: serve as Chief Election Office for the county, oversee voter registration and maintains the State Voter Registration system data base for Wabasha County, conduct absentee voting for State, Federal, and County elections, Conducts canvas of State, Federal, and County Elections, deliver election equipment, and to conduct public accuracy tests for election equipment; and

Whereas, to ensure the proper working and maintenance of the election systems and hardware for the County, cities, and townships, the Auditor's Office wishes to enter into a contract with "Elections Systems and Software, LLC" to provide ongoing and maintenance support; and

Now therefore be it resolved, the Wabasha County Board of Commissioners hereby approves the proposed contract attached as Exhibit 1 and directs the County Board Chair to sign said contract.

Adopted Unanimously

Commissioners reported on meetings they attended.

ROSCHEN – HARMS

Motion to recess to the Township Association meeting to be held in Millville at 7:30 p.m. on August 6.